


The Duel

by baeberiibungh



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A lot of Hale die but not in the fire, AU, Courtship Duel, Derek is still struggling, Dueling Hierarchy, Equality Marking, Established Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Gen, Hunters, M/M, Magic, Multi, Peter is not as psychotic, Power Equality, Rituals, Sham Duelling prior to wedding, Sham fighting, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Weddings, Werewolf, welcome to the family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-09-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 15:34:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4882225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeberiibungh/pseuds/baeberiibungh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Hale – Stilinski duel of courtship is about to commence... ( I kind of suck at titles and summaries so just check the tags)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Basics

The streets of Beacon Hills were empty, but not sad. There was a nervous energy permeating everything. People were smiling as if getting ready for a great treat and stray decorations have started to appear. Christmas was in a fortnight or so, but in an almost unanimous decision the town had decided to go for the duel centric decorations before bringing down the festoons and Christmas lights. 

So wind chimes made of glass and bones, animals made from loops of vines and flowers, lanterns rescued from forgotten corners of their attics or basement, and huge floating balloons. Glitter shone at windows and doors, peppering entrances in a glittering cascade. Some of the older denizens don on some of their robes from the last Hale courtship duel, not the botched one, the successful one, Talia Hale’s, and attempted to gather some fairy lights to capture in a jar to take to the Hale ground to show their formal acceptance of both the marriage invitation and the marriage itself. 

The Stilinski house was just about bursting at the seam trying to accommodate everyone who came and _everyone_ came. The Sheriff had already absconded to the station to get a bit of relief as well as bring the guns, carefully checked for wolfsbane hidden or otherwise given the last attempt, the humans would need in the duel. The house was certainly groaning at some places as too many feet tread up and down its length.

“Stiles Stilinski, get your ass up from your bed and put your tux on, this is not the time to burrow into blankets and contemplate a move to the Himalayas,” shouted a pissed off Lydia Martin, looking thunderous in a delicate outfit and heals about three storied high and looking ferociously beautiful. Stiles peeked at her from a hole in his blanket and said, “But Lyds.....” “No buts or butts you goober, get up now this is ridiculous, Scott is crying into his breakfast and Allison is too hungover for this shit. Get up now and get ready. We need to be reaching the Hale ground in an hour or so.”

Slites kicks off his blankets and sits up. He is wearing a loose vest and skinny jeans with huge pockets that he attached himself magically so that he can fit ten times the stuff than the size of the pockets itself. “The tuxedo is not for today Lyds, did you forget? And anyway all the people will be looking at you. I could very well be wearing animal skin and everyone will roll with it.”

Lydia gives a huff and heads down. The whole gang is here. Including every friend that Stiles had ever made. The number actually surprised Lydia. Given how inclusive he is in his group, always sticking to Scott, she had no idea how did he even end up with all these people. She could see Christine with her squad with the big heels and bigger hair and just about shimmering like a disco light sip champagne and talk to Liam who had a goofy look on his face, and really, did the bite actually transmit characteristics because he was looking too much like Scott entranced by something wonderful.

Heather was talking to Allison who looked better now. Danny was trying to sneak kisses to a guy that Lydia did not know and the twins Ethan and Aidan were looking in equal measurement peeved and sad. They were not in the list even though Kira was who came into the fold later than them. But Scott had been quite adamant. It did not help that they tried to get the info right after Scott got into a fight with Issac, who he wanted in Stiles’ list, but who went with Derek instead seeing how he was his former Alpha. The numbers kind of matched up this way but the twins were definitely left out. 

Jackson who had come from London for the Duel and the ensuing wedding with the Hales, but he too was not included in the list. Parrish was just happy to be included in the party even if he did not get a place on the dueler’s list. The duel would start today in the evening just as the sun’s lower edges would be cresting the horizon. Lydia had personally gone and decorated the Hale grounds where the ritualistic duels would be taking place. Laura was quite welcoming to her, and Lydia now counted her as one of her good friends as well. 

At the Hale house, the weres were working overtime to get the grounds and the house looking festive and welcoming for the town people who would be coming to witness the duel as well. Issac and Erica took over the decor part while Boyd and Peter cooked in huge batches for the mass of people who would be descending for a week or so. Invites to all the major packs had been sent, and while most sent representative, some like Satomi came as proper alphas with appropriate fanfare. The Hales had enough space to accommodate everyone, and the house was buzzing with good cheer as wolfbane laced beer and triphali infused 50 yr old whiskey was being consumed in copious amount. Two of the newer betas from another pack were already passed out in the back.

Derek sat in his room, trying to swallow in small sips of his beer that Laura had handed him seeing his fear clad eyes and open mouth as if gasping for breath, and had sat him down to calm down. It was a mistake, a part of his mind whispered. What Kate did, what it led to, everything was running through his mind. And she was a mere human while Stiles was one of the most accomplished spark this generation has ever seen. Not that Stiles would hurt him or his family, but his old fears and nightmares were just about making him want to take off his shirt and slacks and wolf out and run away forever.

Before he could quite get more maudlin or frantic, Cora stepped in heralded by Erica and Issac. She didn’t say anything, just grab bed his face and looked into his eyes. Derek looked back and felt himself relax. He was safe, his pack was safe, Kate would never hurt them again and he will soon be marrying the love of his life. He was good, life was good. So he smiled back at the people who loved him and stood up to head to the grounds.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

There were rules to the duel that people have to follow, a base of power hierarchy that was repected so that the weak did not end up getting killed nor the supernaturals hurt or imprisoned. While werewolves were one of the apex predators that the world was aware of and had a distinct level of power over any human, a spark was held to be higher or at par with a powerful Alpha. Werewolf weddings were held in just about any institution just as human weddings were, but families as old as the Hales tried to keep in with their tradition, which have changed only for the better each century. 

Thus, after being together for three years after having known each other for two more years, Derek Hale and Stiles Stilinski were finally tying the knot much to the relief of family. The two years where they kept just snarling at each other or shoving each other over hard surfaces to make a point was a horror of UST to everyone they knew. They expected it to be better when they finally, thank god, got together, but no, as if to make up for the previous two years, they had to be almost morbidly sweet and gross with each other. It took Scott about a month of simultaneously coming upon them always doing something, _always_ , to break his habit of going to Stiles or Derek unannounced. 

When Peter brought the idea to Laura, their current Alpha, how perhaps they could revive old tradition as well as wipe out the lingering traces of bad associated with it from the last time given that now they were a much stable pack and family, Laura had readily accepted. The idea was put to Stiles first instead of Derek because if left to Derek he would have immediately refused. Stiles Accepted immediately and went through all the rules and requirements of the courting duel that both Derek and Stiles would have to go through.

When Derek found out, he had been livid, getting into a shouting match with Laura and peter over bringing it up again. Stiles calmed him down and told him that he would have really liked to do it, but he would not press if Derek did not want to. Hell they could just head to Las Vegas and get hitched within hours. Except, Stiles pointed out, how doing it the old way would kind of send the message to every were pack around and that it was something his parents might have wanted for him, despite of how the thing with Kate turned out.

“Do you not want to do it because of what Kate did that time or because of what you fear I might do if I am in the same position as her?” Stiles had asked Derek. At that Derek had looked up to Stiles and realised that perhaps he was letting Kate take a good thing away from him. And he trusted Stiles, with his life, so he pursed his lips and grudgingly accepted. He certainly became much more involved when he found how enjoyable it was to plan the wedding. The last held courtship duel among the Hales had been Talia’s his mother, but he himself had gone to quite a few in his childhood and had enjoyed how the community came together and the fun he had.

By the time the day of the duel came, he was actually happy that he did decide to do this. Stiles will love this to no end. His nerves did not get the memo though and he continued to be tensed throughout till he actually got to the duel grounds. A huge canopy had been placed, with food and drinks spread out sporadically, and a ring of clear earth empty in the centre. People were milling around and laughing and enjoying themselves. It was time to officially start the duel.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

As per the rules of the duel, Derek will have to fight, or sham fight with all the members of Stiles’s pack and vice versa. The names that had been given to clearly state the packs were, 

For the Hale Pack: Laura, Peter, Cora, Malia, Issac, Erica, Boyd and Derek.

For the Stilinski Pack: John, Mellissa, Scott, Lydia, Allison, Liam, Kira and Stiles.

The duel hierarchy stated that the Alpha be the first to duel and then the rest on seniority either by age or bite. In case the Alpha is getting married as in case of Stiles, seniority either by age or bite is taken into account. Derek will fight each member of the Stilinski pack ending with Stiles, making sure that he does not actually hurt anyone. The precedent for humans is that they can hurt the werewolf with either a knife or a bow, upgraded to a gun in later years, and they will not be hurt in return except receive a mark with a claw on their wrist that will officially state them equal as a member of either pack. The weres will wet a magical string, either woven by their emissary or given as gift by a spark, with their blood before the wound closes, and tie it around their wrist as a keepsake of the same deal of equality.

Since a spark is more powerful than a werewolf, and has the capacity to actually kill weres, the same rules apply as in case of humans. The weres can attack, and Stiles can either block the attacks or glance it off, but cannot attack them in turn or return. Without a time limit, this can sketch for hours, and in one memorable incident, it went on for days for days owing to the fact that both were egotistical idiots. Which is why a time limit is set, theirs being 2 mins on the minimum or 5 at the maximum. After each duel, the were will lay a mark on the Spark’s wrist with their claw, proclaiming that they whole heartedly accept their family’s choice. After the official duelling is over the other members of the pack may add on to the marks, but they are to be invited to do that, usually after something brave or kind had been done.

The whole process was done to establish a power equality and openness between the two family, at which the Argent family had failed miserably. Kate had been a beautiful women and Derek had just turned 18. Completely enamoured by her charms, he had insisted that he wanted to marry her. His family had not been too keen, seeing how they had been hunters of ill repute till recently, but Derek had persisted and they had finally agreed. What no one knew, even Chris Argent her brother, was that the show of giving up hunting had been a sham and Kate used Derek to get near his family. The day of duelling, Kate was paired first with Tara, Peter’s wife, who was a human, breaking off the accepted hierarchy of pack duellers as Kate insisted that she would be too afraid to do anything to the weres. So Tara, four months pregnant, had stepped to the ring first, and had died within minutes when, by a stroke of luck, one of the hunter’s guns went off, giving off the smell of wolfsbane that was inside the gun. 

All the guests of the Argent family turned out to be rabid hunters who had no compunctions about turning their guns on small children and the Hales had gone mad over it. There were much human causality as well. Peter had ripped out Kate’s throat and Derek had clawed Gerard Argent’s chest into mince meat. The final tally had been catastrophic. 15 of the Hales had been killed, 3/4th of their relatives in all, two emissaries who had come as representative and 49 humans, of which 29 had been hunters. Derek had been inconsolable, and let Peter claw him to within an inch of his life, and would have happy to have died at his hand except that Laura intervened, shouting how they had already lost so much, did they want to lose more.

Peter had run away to the forest, overcome with his grief and emotionally unstable at the sudden loss of so many of his pack. Derek kept crying and crying and Laura shouted at him about it but then she would come and comfort him as well. It took him a lot time to heal, and Stiles helped a lot there. They contacted the police and medical services, a mass service was held to commemorate the dead. Most blamed the Argent and their archaic views on what made a person humane, and some blamed the Hales for endangering the humans so easily, but both were hurting and soon, it was slightly forgiven, if not forgotten. 

Peter went almost feral, and a month after the whole catastrophe before he returned home, he ended up biting Scott McCall. Two months later, Stiles found out that he is a spark.


	2. The Classics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Duels takes place...

The duel starts with a resounding howl from the Hale alpha, accompanied by loud cheers from the crowd surrounding the circle in the midst of the canopy. The Hale pack members stand on one side and the Stilinskis stand on the other, but there is no formality to it. Only the visiting Alphas have been given brightly coloured armchairs and they are the ones keeping both the group separate. Otherwise there are chairs and small frilly stools for children and foods of many kinds that almost everyone is partaking in. No werewolf liquor is in sight as it could be bad for humans, but it is in all en enjoyable evening. 

Laura Hale steps in the ring, with catcalls from her own pack as they try to gawd Stiles into doing something from his own brand of stupid. There is a huge smile splitting his face as he gets into the arena, and warms his heart to see that Derek is not watching Laura but him. Both bow while the crowd behind them gets loud and then quick as lightening, Laura strikes. Stiles does not even flinch, but raises his arm in a graceful arc and plants are shooting off from the ground and suddenly Laura smacks into a thick tangle of just tree stumps. 

She changes tactics and tries to feint, but Stiles catches on easily. After 3 minutes, when Laura calls for an end to her duel, both are breathing hard, but with not one scratch on each other. Neither takes this as an insult to their powers, but laughs almost simultaneously at how both are so evenly matched. When the official end is called by Deaton, who is still their emissary, Laura hugs Stiles and he hugs her back enthusiastically. She kisses his forehead that is both a blessing and a proof of his love, and steps back. “Welcome to the Hales Stiles.”

Then Stiles presents his wrist to Laura and she pulls a short but deep line on his arms. Stiles being a spark, has the power to remove any scars he wishes for from his body, but these he will have to keep till he dies, or till he leaves the Hale pack, whichever comes first. Stiles then presents the magic string to Laura who nicks herself deeply and lathers it in her blood before tying it around her wrist. Laura hugs him once more, tries to discreetly pull away some of the sting from the cut and steps out of the ring at the same time Stiles does. 

Next up to duel is Derek and John Stilinski. The sheriff has come a long way from the time he first met Derek, horrified to find his son plastered to his chest and his tongue in Derek’s mouth, but over the years, he has come to respect and like the man that his son had chosen. And Derek has always been very respectful of the Sheriff, which was just an added bonus. The ‘you hurt him and I will kill you’ talk has already been done with, but John didn’t hesitate to say, as he pulled his gun on Derek, “If you ever give my son any reason to be sad, I will aim this the next time to your head.”

Derek stood completely still and said, “I will give your my word on that. I also promise you that I will take every bullet that is directed at him.” John feels immensely proud of Derek at this and even though the whole dialogue was basically a social message and a threat of importance for formal reasons, the sheriff feels a bit better at how Derek does not hesitate to agree with the idea so publically. He shoots off his gun so that it hits the right arm and looks on as Derek immediately pushes in his magic string into the rapidly closing wound and pull out the bullet at the same times. He then steps up to let Derek carve a delicate line across his wrist and mark them as equal the time Derek and the sheriff steps out of the ring, the bloody string is wrapped around his wrist. 

Next is Peter and Stiles. Peter does not even try to do anything. He merely waits for two minutes, draws a line in his flesh below the line done by Laura and then proceeds to shove his clawed hand into his thigh with the string in his fist before tying the dripping string around his wrist. He too pulls in Stiles in for a hug that is solid and warm and whispers into his ear, “Thank you for making him happy.” He pulls back, and Stiles who did not interact with him that much is moved to see the tears and sincerity shining in his eyes. 

Derek and Scott steps in the circle, and instantly it’s like a scene from Mortal Combat. Both fight ferociously, snarling and ripping flesh and heavy blows that neither pulls back. This is a true duel, and as scary it is, no one goes for the killing blow or bite. This is a proper show of equal strength and is a proof that the Stilinski pack is powerful in their own right. Both break apart at the call from Deaton at the 5 minutes mark and give each other manly hugs with serious looks on their face. They dip their strings into their wounds and tie them around their wrist. Stiles will later braid all the ones on Derek’s wrist into one single big one and he will wear them till his affections for the Stilinski pack remains. If his feelings for the other pack changes, the string will itself erode away in minutes. 

Stiles and Cora just about play with each other, so unconcerned they are about to show their powers. Lydia came over and stepped on Derek’s shoes very hard so that the heel that she must have sharpened somewhere tore up his leg. Derek just scowled at her and huffed his exasperation. Malia manages to actually straddle Stiles and crow her victory for two seconds before she gets thrown back into a mossy shelf that Stiles conjured up at the last nanosecond for she looked too shocked to actually turn herself to land properly. 

Melissa steps into the ring and kisses Derek on the cheek and hands him a small box. She then proceeds to take out a scalpel from her pocket and slice it through his forearm. While Derek fumbles with tying his blood wet string, she kisses his other cheek and cradles her arm that sting from the mark and walks out. Scott looks on with pride. Issac, with his customary scarf around his neck, just hugs Stiles for two minutes straight, draws the tiniest line on his arm and flays open his own hand to wet his string. He smacks loudly on his forehead and walks out while Stiles looks on bemusedly.

Next up was Derek and Allison. There was much talk when she was declared as part of the pack. The town had not forgotten what her family had done prior, but Stiles had been very clear. The Hales too have had no problems. It was not her fault that her aunt and grandfather were crazy. They certainly never did have any influence over her, Chris made sure of it. And her new mantra on being the correct way to be a hunter had helped everyone a lot, by bringing them materials and resources they did not have their own. Derek was initially more reluctant, but over the years he had come to accept that she was nothing like Kate. She stepped in with a double edged knife with which she nicked Derek a bit, but cut herself more. 

Derek immediately pulled the knife from her grasp, pulled her bleeding hand to him and sucked off black lines off her as he solemnly told her, “You are not her.” She had immediately broken down, and flunged herself around his neck. Derek was aware that both Scott and Isaac were looking at her so turned her around to step outside the ring after he had wet a string in his blood and after marking her arm. 

Erica smiled filthily at Stiles which he returned in droves and then the duel was on. She did not try to fight him per se, just try to get close to him. She gave up after 3 minutes and pouted at him while Boyd looked thunderous in the background. She drew a line in his arm that was starting to smart quite a lot and draw a similar but deeper line in her own arm. She wet the string and tied it on and before stepping away leaving a kiss as soft as a flower petal on his lips. Her eyes did not dim exactly but they looked a bit sad as she stepped out. 

Liam kept gulping as he stepped into the ring. He too tried to fight Derek as Scott did, but he just kept floundering too much to actually fight. By the end of the three minutes he stuck by, Derek was darkly amused and was smiling at him which seemed to freak the boy. Each wet their strings and stepped away after tying it around their wrist. Scott thumped his back and he looked very relieved at that. Boyd just stepped in, tried to give a few half hearted swipes that simply did not have even a bit of force behind them and then drew the line on Stiles’ arms and tied his bloody string as well as he could one handed. 

Kira, the last duelist pack for the evening, actually managed to give Derek a run for his money. She kept shooting lightening balls at him that repeatedly made his hair stand on end earning deep cackles from Stiles and that made it difficult to touch her. Conceding the round in her favour, Derek strung the string around his hand and lightly drew a line on her arm once she put her foxcloak down. She gave him a kiss to the cheek, said quite audibly, “You even make him cry, I will fry your balls,” and walked out. Scott looked almost inspired at this.

At last, Stiles and Derek stepped in. This was it. They just had to go through it and then a week of wild parties and feasts and then the actual wedding on the Winter Solstice. They will be hosting Christmas, the same as they had the last year at Derek’s loft, and invite the whole family there. But first they had to sham their way through this. Stiles suddenly got a brilliant idea, moved his hands around in a couple of symbols and his eyes glowed golden and then quick as anything, the pair were surrounded by thick vines that bloomed the same five petal flower in every hue possible. There was no way in and out and no sound that could be discernible by human ears.

But then Scott almost screeched, “Seriously guys, seriously?” and it pinged for the humans and everyone kind of stepped away from the ring and wafted away to the tables laden with food. Scott was scowling in a fairly good imitation of Derek so Allison and Isaac took turns making him forget about it. The happy couple emerged about half an hour later, the magical strings already braided into one thin bracelet, looking mussed and crumpled and disgustingly happy and Scott huffed at them, as did Jackson who was listening to Liam with a weird look on his face. All told and done, it was an awesome party and fantastic feast, and the wedding made each of the Hale and Stilinski pack cry buckets. Derek of course cried the most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual with me, this started off as something else, but then it mutated beyond my idea, and well, now you have this. I hope you enjoyed reading this even a teensy bit. Thanks.

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeated. i would really really REALLY love your comments on this. Kudos too if you like. the next part will be up either today or tomorrow. Enjoy!


End file.
